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Saturday, September 3, 2011

Section A of the Hudson's Bay Company records

Section A is a separate section of HBCA records, which contains the Governor and Committee (London Office) Records Finding Aid.
These records were created by the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, in London.
A listing of these records have, until recently, not been available to an online search -- I know that the British Columbia archives had a listing of the Section A records on microfilm.
They are now available online at the Hudson's Bay Company archives.
There is information here that is not contained in other records, and most if not all is available on microfilm.
However, you search for these records through Keystone -- that is, the Keystone Archives Descriptive Database.

Here is how the Hudson's Bay Company archives records were originally set up, in 1920 or thereabouts:
Section A -- London Office Records (Governor and Committee)
Section B -- Post Records, which contain surviving post journals and account books, and sometimes include Lists of Men employed at the HBC posts and Miscellaneous records. The catalogue listing is viewable online and for the most part can be requested on microfilm through your local library.
Section C -- Ships' Records -- the records of various ships that sailed up and down the coast, easily accessible by microfilm.
Section D -- Governor's Papers and Commissioner's Office Documents, including Governor Simpson's outgoing and incoming correspondence.
Section E -- Private records. For example, the Anderson Family papers are those of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's older brother, James Anderson A.
Section F -- Subsidiary Companies. The records of the North West Company are in this section, as are those of other companies attached, however tenuously, to the HBC.
Section G -- Maps, which can be searched online and viewed on microfilm. If you want to order a good copy of any map, please find the HBC Archives' instructions and read them carefully.
Section H -- Western Department Land Records, which I have not viewed but which are easily accessible.
Section Z -- Miscellaneous records, which are sometimes worth requesting to see what's available, though I think they are not always microfilmed.

Except for Section A, all of the above can be searched in the Hudson's Bay Company archives and can be requested, if microfilmed.
Only Section A is searched through the Keystone Archives Descriptive Database.
You will probably have to fool around with the database to discover how it works -- I know that I found some interesting material on there.
Amongst the HBCA's Information Sheets, I found this listing of records available in Section A:

By searching through the Keystone Archives Database, you will discover which reels to request from HBCA.
I suggest searching both for headings such as "servants' contracts" and also for your ancestor's name.
If I remember, the Keystone Archives Database is part of the Manitoba Archives page rather than the HBCA search page, which might confuse you for a moment or two.
But it works, and if there is a London record you should find it on this search page.
Good luck.

2 comments:

Thank you for your interest in the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, and for bringing a greater awareness of our online resources to your readers. Since the Keystone Archives Descriptive Database was launched in 2005, HBCA staff have been working to enter descriptions of the records in our holdings (Keystone is accessible on the Archives of Manitoba website at http://pam.minisisinc.com/pam/search.htm). Full online descriptions are currently available for Sections A, B, C, D, H, RG2, RG3 and RG7 (this includes records of the Governor and Committee, Governor and Council of Rupert’s Land, Commissioner’s Office, Canadian Committee, Fur Trade Department, Northern Stores Department, all Hudson’s Bay Company posts and districts, and records of related or subsidiary companies). This is an ongoing project, and new descriptions are being added to the database on a regular basis; until everything has been added to Keystone we are also continuing to provide access to some of the older Online Finding Aids.

All of the HBC records created prior to 1920 (and many more recent ones) are available on microfilm and can be borrowed through the interlibrary loan program. Historians, genealogists, and all other researchers are encouraged to visit the Archives of Manitoba’s website at http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/index.html to see what types of resources we can offer, and are welcome to contact us with any questions they might have about our holdings or online tools.

Thank you for your interest in the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, and for bringing a greater awareness of our online resources to your readers. Since the Keystone Archives Descriptive Database was launched in 2005, HBCA staff have been working to enter descriptions of the records in our holdings (Keystone is accessible on the Archives of Manitoba website at http://pam.minisisinc.com/pam/search.htm). Full online descriptions are currently available for Sections A, B, C, D, H, RG2, RG3 and RG7 (this includes records of the Governor and Committee, Governor and Council of Rupert’s Land, Commissioner’s Office, Canadian Committee, Fur Trade Department, Northern Stores Department, all Hudson’s Bay Company posts and districts, and records of related or subsidiary companies). This is an ongoing project, and new descriptions are being added to the database on a regular basis; until everything has been added to Keystone we are also continuing to provide access to some of the older Online Finding Aids.

All of the HBC records created prior to 1920 (and many more recent ones) are available on microfilm and can be borrowed through the interlibrary loan program. Historians, genealogists, and all other researchers are encouraged to visit the Archives of Manitoba’s website at http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/index.html to see what types of resources we can offer, and are welcome to contact us with any questions they might have about our holdings or online tools.